Mike in Horseheads Posted December 1 Posted December 1 ESPN- Hall of Fame college basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who won more than 500 games and led St. John's to three Big East titles and a 1985 Final Four appearance, died Saturday at the age of 99. The school announced the news with a statement Saturday night, saying Carnesecca was surrounded by family when he died. Replacing another Hall of Famer, longtime St. John's coach Joe Lapchick, Carnesecca took over the program in 1965 and brought the school to national prominence over two stints. 2 2 Quote
US Egg Posted December 1 Posted December 1 The ‘80’s Big East Conference era was great. Remember him well. Class act. 2 Quote
Mike in Horseheads Posted December 1 Author Posted December 1 13 minutes ago, US Egg said: The ‘80’s Big East Conference era was great. Remember him well. Class act. Big East was loaded with good coaches and players that made the NBA. The tournament in those years was outstanding hoops 1 2 Quote
Low Positive Posted December 1 Posted December 1 17 minutes ago, US Egg said: The ‘80’s Big East Conference era was great. Remember him well. Class act. I can still hear Dick Vitale calling games on ESPN between Lou Carnesecca's St. Johns teams and Rollie Massimino's Villanova teams screaming about Paisans. Those really were glory years for college basketball. 3 2 Quote
Simon Posted December 1 Posted December 1 5 hours ago, Mike in Horseheads said: Big East was loaded with good coaches and players that made the NBA. The tournament in those years was outstanding hoops It was more than just their tourney; their regular season was completely insane also. A random Tuesday league game had the passion of a playoff elimination game like two teams were fighting for their lives. I'm not even a huge basketball fan but it was impossible to take your eyes off that level of intensity. With guys still playing out their full scholarships in that era there were like a half dozen legitimately great teams at any given time; they had also been playing each other enough over those 3-4 years to have time and opportunity to build up very personal rivalries that just ratcheted everything up another notch. It was so nuts that they had to start letting kids play with 6 fouls during intraconference games. That time and place will absolutely go down as one of my top 5 favorite eras in any sport at any time. Thank you Lou for the ability and class you always displayed. And for the sweaters. 2 1 1 2 Quote
Steve O Posted December 1 Posted December 1 Who could forget the sweater game. Number 2 Georgetown went to Madison Square Garden to take on number 1 St John's. St. John's was on a 19 game winning streak which started when Lou Carnesecca put on a gifted sweater near the end of a close game. For the rematch in February (St. John's had won the first meeting against then #1 Georgetown earlier that season) John Thompson found a duplicate sweater, covered it with a jacket, walked over to Lou before the game, and opened the jacket to reveal the sweater. Crowd went crazy. Georgetown went on to win handily. 1 Quote
Dan in Owego Posted December 1 Posted December 1 8 hours ago, US Egg said: The ‘80’s Big East Conference era was great. Remember him well. Class act. It wasn't just great, it was the best period full stop. At least in my humble opinion😊 2 Quote
Simon Posted December 1 Posted December 1 3 hours ago, Steve O said: Who could forget the sweater game. Number 2 Georgetown went to Madison Square Garden to take on number 1 St John's. St. John's was on a 19 game winning streak which started when Lou Carnesecca put on a gifted sweater near the end of a close game. For the rematch in February (St. John's had won the first meeting against then #1 Georgetown earlier that season) John Thompson found a duplicate sweater, covered it with a jacket, walked over to Lou before the game, and opened the jacket to reveal the sweater. Crowd went crazy. Georgetown went on to win handily. Not only was MSG SRO on random weeknights for meaningless league games, but you'd have had to sell your firstborn to get into that building. And the entire country was watching it at the same time. Can you imagine 1/10th of that interest level now? With the homogenization of everything today, the one and dones, the conference jumping, the conservative strategizing, etc college basketball will never be that good again. 1 1 Quote
CowgirlsFan Posted December 2 Posted December 2 RIP 🙏 Thank you for your contribution to the game of basketball 🏀 Quote
Ned Flanders Posted December 2 Posted December 2 20 hours ago, Simon said: Not only was MSG SRO on random weeknights for meaningless league games, but you'd have had to sell your firstborn to get into that building. And the entire country was watching it at the same time. Can you imagine 1/10th of that interest level now? With the homogenization of everything today, the one and dones, the conference jumping, the conservative strategizing, etc college basketball will never be that good again. If you haven't already, be sure to watch the ESPN 30 for 30, "Requiem for the Big East." Outstanding documentary on 80s-90s Big East basketball. 1 Quote
BuffaloBill Posted December 3 Posted December 3 On 12/1/2024 at 9:43 AM, Dan in Owego said: It wasn't just great, it was the best period full stop. At least in my humble opinion😊 Yeah that was an era of some very good basketball. Quote
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